German micromobility company Tier Mobility is to add sound to its e-scooter fleet to alert blind and partially sighted people of the approaching vehicles.
Tier has partnered with Thomas Pocklington Trust (TPT) following concerns that visually impaired people struggle to detect e-scooters and will use research from the charity to design a sound feature to be rolled out across its fleet in 2021.
Charles Colquhoun, CEO at Thomas Pocklington Trust, said: “By introducing the audio alert systems Tier is directly responding to the concerns that the introduction of silent, heavy and fast e-scooters represents a real danger to blind and partially sighted people.
“It has also agreed to incorporate advice and guidance to promote vision awareness for e-scooter riders within its induction information for each e-scooter hire.”
According to Tier, installing an audible alert in its vehicles will raise safety standards and help build confidence. It is now calling on other e-scooter operators to do the same.
Fred Jones, UK general manager of Tier Mobility, said: “E-scooters offer lots of benefits to UK cities, but they must be introduced in a considered way, working in harmony with local communities and accounting for the concerns of people with visual impairment.
“At Tier, rather than just paying lip service to visually impaired people, we want to work with them to deliver real action to address their concerns. So we are thrilled to be working with Thomas Pocklington Trust to design and roll out a sound alert across our vehicles next year.”
As previously reported by CiTTi, Tier introduced its e-scooters to York in a 12-month trial in October.
